The Redemption Of The Blacks
by maverickiceman
Summary: Harry follows Sirius through the Veil. Making a deal with Death, Harry sets out to save Sirius, and just maybe the rest of the Blacks and the Marauders. Time-travel, Ravenclaw!Harry. Harry/Bellatrix, other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **_I own HP (in my dreams).

**A/N:** Just my take on time-travel Haratrix, inspired by Harry De Vie.

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_Chapter One_

**Department Of Mysteries, Ministry Of Magic, London **

"Sirius! NO!" Harry yelled.

And before anyone could react, he dived in after his Godfather, through the mysterious Veil.

-0-0-0-

_It was peaceful, he could stay here forever._

A whispery voice interrupted Harry's reverie. "It's not your time to cross."

Harry summoned the strength to retort, "Sirius' time hasn't come either."

"On the contrary, he fell when he was supposed to." came the reply.

"Bull-shit, I refuse to accept it."

The voice was silent for what felt like hours; Harry got the impression that whoever it was; was dissecting and examining him like a frog in a Biology lab.

"Hmm…. Very well, I shall release your Godfather's spirit. But you'll have to work for it."

"Work for it?"

"You have to send a soul where it belongs."

"You mean Voldemort? Send me back and I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"No."

"No?"

"Sending you back is out of the question. Your rash action has already destabilized that portion of the timeline. I'll have to send you some…when else."

"So I've to kill a younger Voldermort? Kill him when he's still Tom Riddle?"

"Not quite, it's still your fate to face Tom; you've already been marked, as it were, for that task. No, your task is to shepherd a lost soul back to it's rightful road, more than one in fact, but only one is of specific interest to us. And in doing so, you'll gain a chance to experience what has been so far denied to you."

"Who?"

"It'll be revealed in time."

"What the hell?" Harry was getting pissed, with all the talk of redemption and the half revelations, the mystery person sounded like he was related to Dumbledore, hell it could _be_ Dumbledore, launching some great scheme for victory.

"You'll know enough, when required."

_Yep, definitely Dumbledoreish._

"Now it's time for you to leave. But not before the changes."

"Changes?" Harry questioned nervously.

"Of course, you cannot go where you're going looking as you do. It'll raise too many questions."

"When exactly am I going?"

"There's no more time. Goodbye Harry Potter."

"Wait! Who are you?"

"Death!" the soft answer floated behind Harry as he fell into the darkness swirling around them.

-0-0-0-

**Canon Time-line:-June 18th 1996  
**

Dumbledore watched as the memory of the prophecy sank back into the penseive. It seemed Tom would win; Harry hadn't died at his hand, but _because_ of his Hand, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Dumbledore had arrived in time to see Harry disappear through the Veil. Tom had appeared soon after, to retrieve his Inner Circle, raging at the loss of the prophecy and the lost chance of exterminating Harry himself. He promised appropriate retribution on Lucius and Bellatrix before turning his attention to the surviving Order members.

Dumbledore had battled him, but had managed only to buy time for the others to retreat. Without Harry and the connection through his scar, Voldermort's control over his magic had seemingly increased. The old wizard had barely escaped himself.

_Perhaps the connection acted as a drain on both Harry's and Tom's magic._

As the aged Headmaster mused over this thought, he looked at all the people gathered in his office, the Hogwarts faculty and the remnants of the Order Of The Phoenix.

"Albus, what are we to do?" asked a saddened and worried Minerva McGonagall. Her expression broadcast her emotions as clearly as Molly Weasley's heart wrenching sobs.

"Lock down the castle. Prepare for a la-" Dumbledore was interrupted by Sybil Trelawney who had spaced out five minutes into the meeting.

"_**All is not lost.**_

_**The Chosen One has gone,**_

_**To when it all began.**_

_**He shall right the scales,**_

_**And set straight stray paths.**_

_**All is not lost."**_

The entire proclamation was delivered in the same manner as the memory everyone in the room had just finished hearing.

It was then that Albus Dumbledore noticed the ripple progressing through the room, rendering whatever it passed through translucent and fading.

"Professor?" queried a physically and emotionally exhausted Remus Lupin from his seat at the Headmaster's right.

"It seems Harry shall come through for us yet." Albus Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling as the wave reached the two of them.

Within hours, there was nothing left, it had never happened.

-0-0-0-

**Alternate Time-line:-July 1****st****, 1968**

Harry stumbled and fell onto the stone floor. He skidded across the floor before slamming into a pair of feet standing a few feet from the Veil's archway.

Harry stared into a pair of green eyes, slightly lighter than his own, set in what he assumed was a normally jovial face topped by a mess of brown hair. Said face was now wearing a surprised expression.

"Wha-"

"Where am I?" An 8-year old Harry Potter asked, dazedly. 


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer:-_ Refer last chapter.

* * *

_Chapter Two_

_**Where am I?" Harry asked dazedly.

* * *

**_

Unspeakable Andrew Ashcroft had seen many things during his five year stint with the division that reinforced their motto _"We investigate what should not be said."_

_Or more accurately "We investigate what should not be said because if we did say anything we'd earn a one-way ticket to a padded room in St. Mungo's"._

Unofficial expansions of Department mottos aside, Andy as he was commonly known had seen things that reinforced the persona his fellow 'Mythbusters', as one of his Muggleborn colleagues had christened the group, adopted in public.

But this was improbable even by their standards- an 8 year old kid stumbling out of the Veil and right into an Unspeakable who just happened to be on patrol at that precise location.

The Veil-it had been around since before the Ministry, in fact the building had been built around it. Theories on it's purpose abounded and ranged from a gateway to the dead to a hole in the fabric of time. Whatever it was it hadn't been figured out yet and most of the Unspeakables avoided it, except for the die-hards like Andrew's boss, Algernon Croaker.

"Who are you?" Andy having recovered his composure asked the 'stowaway', for lack of a better term.

"Harry." came the quick reply.

"Harry who?"

"I…I don't remember."

_Now that's a surprise._

"Do you remember anything at all?" Andy asked, employing the tone of voice that made him the go to Auror when it came to questioning kids during his 10 year stint with them before he joined the Unspeakables.

"Not really all I remember is some sort of attack and jumping through an archway like the one behind us."

_That's interesting._

"Try and think of who was attacking you."

The 8 year-old's face screwed up in concentration before morphing into an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry, I can't remember anything else."

_Alright, this is getting suspicious._

"Why don't you come with me? We'll go see a friend of mine, is that O.K.?

Seeing the nod, he led the 8 year old to the office of Algernon Croaker, Head Unspeakable.

The grizzled old man, not as old as Albus Dumbledore but older than 'Mad-Eye' Moody, who constituted what some referred to as the 'Old Brigade' half in jest and half in respect, looked up as young Ashcroft knocked and came into his office followed by, off all things, an 8 year old boy.

"Sir, we have a level Alpha situation here." Croaker quirked an eyebrow, Alpha meant the situation was unprecedented, probably dangerous and needed to be handled delicately. He listened as the young man continued, "It's regarding the Veil," Croaker's interest spiked even higher, "and young Harry here."

"I see." the elder wizard said. "Ashcroft could you come into my annex, I'd like to hear more about this. Young man," here Croaker turned to Harry. "Why don't you play with this while I talk to Mr. Ashcroft here." He handed the boy a toy he'd planned to give his nephew Frank, but had left it in the office by mistake.

**Two hours later:-**

Andrew Ashcroft watched as Algernon Croaker led Harry to a seat and gave the boy a Butterbeer to drink. "Well, sir?" he asked his approaching boss.

Croaker sighed, "Whatever happened when he passed through the Veil, it screwed up his memories. All we've been able to confirm is that his first name's Harry, he's a wizard; there was an attack by Death Eaters, who we've not been able to determine, and that he escaped through a Veil similar to ours. Also we're pretty sure he's harmless."

Andy sighed in relief; he'd taken a liking to boy, even in the scant time they'd interacted.

"However, he'll still need watching over. We've no idea what effect traveling through the Veil will have on him later." Here Andy's boss paused seemingly lost iin thought, "You like kids don't you, Andy?"

"Sure, I specialized in child related cases with the Aurors."

"Excellent. Then it's settled, after a little paperwork to establish Harry's background, as he seemingly doesn't have one, you'll be appointed his legal guardian."

"What? But I'm single. I can't raise a kid on my salary and with a War on!"

"Nonsense, your salary's been upgraded; after all you're a family man now! As for raising Harry singe handedly? Forget it, I'm assigning you a partner, I think Robbins would enjoy being around little Harry don't you?"

Croaker had to stifle a chuckle as Ashcroft turned red at the mention of the girl he was too shy to approach, according to the office scuttlebutt. Evens Heads Of Unspeakables were allowed to indulge in a little matchmaking after all.

**20****th**** August, 1971**

"You can't catch me."11 year old Harry Ashcroft cackled as he side-stepped a pair of witches in front of an apothecary in the wizarding market known as Diagon Alley

"Get back here you scamp!" yelled a flushed Andy Ashcroft. "All right I don't want to do this, O.K. maybe I do. Accio Har-" he stopped as he saw his his son collide with a young red-haired girl, who stumbled into a pale skinned, black haired boy next to her. The trio collapsed in a jumble of limbs.

Andy chuckled as he approached the jumble just as the kids managed to untangle themselves. Harry immediately began to apologize.

"It's alright, I should've been looking where I was going." The green-eyed red head interrupted him, "I'm Lily Evans and sulky here's Severus Snape." She said indicating the sullen looking boy next to her.

"Harry Ashcroft and this is my dad Andrew or Andy, Wait a minute are you Muggleborns?"

Lily laughed, "I am, Sev's a half-blood. How'd you guess?"

"It's your clothes. No one from a pureblood family would be able to wear that comfortably unless they're raised Muggle and onl a very few even try that."

"And you?"

"Mum's Muggleborn, Dad's a halfblood, so I'm pretty used to it."

"Are you all alone?" Andy questioned, interrupting the conversation.

"Yes. Sev's been here before and my parents trust us to be mature enough to be on our own."

"Wish I could say the same for his hellion. Come along Harry, we've to meet your mother and the rest at Madam Malkin's I hope Cygnus caught James and Sirius. Don't you scarper off again, you get me?" Andy said severely.

"Yes sir." came the chastised reply.

"Could we tag along? We'd definitely like to get to know more people here." Lily said, Severus nodding albeit hesitantly.

"Sure, come along Harry'd like to introduce you to the rest of bratty friends I'll bet."

"Dad!"

The rest of the day went in Harry's new friends getting acquainted with the rest of the Ashcroft's' group, Jenny Ashcroft nee Robbins, Cygnus and Druella Black, their daughters 11 year old Bellatrix, as much of a scamp as Harry and shy 10 year-old Narcisssa as well as their cousin Sirius and his friend James Potter, the rest of 'The Three Musketeers' as Andy called them.

"See you at King's Cross!" Harry, Sirius and James called out as the group parted at the Leaky Cauldron, Lily and Severus were waiting with their purchases, shrunk by Andrew and Cygnus, for Lily's parents while the rest were traveling home via The Leaky Cauldron's Floo.

* * *

**A/N: ** Harry's not shamming amnesia, it's all Death's doing. Next time:- The Express, Remus and Peter, The Sorting and how Harry met the Blacks. 


	3. AN

This is to announce that no more updates will be forthcoming till I get settled in my new place and get a stable net connection, i.e, 2-3 weeks.

Sorry guys.


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